The Otago Regional Council recently approved a new $2 million annual fund.
Initially pooled from council reserves, it will be available for any community-led environmental project in Otago.
The new fund is separate from the regional council’s annual Eco Fund.
Environmental implementation manager Libby Caldwell said the council was developing eligibility criteria and would take a leadership role in the funding system, but the aim was for communities to lead local action to achieve sustained environmental outcomes.
"This fund is targeted at large-scale environmental projects which have intergenerational impacts, local leadership and action which is driven by communities and alignment to ORC strategy and strategic direction."
A wide variety of projects could be included such as river, stream, wetland revitalisation or restoration, wilding conifer proposals, on-ground works, biodiversity enhancement, water quality improvement, animal or plant pest control, native planting and regeneration, education as well as administrative support.
Work on private farmland or forestry blocks might be eligible if projects are aligned with environmental enhancement or restoration and meet the required criteria.
"Each application would be assessed on its own merits, bearing in mind Eco Fund already caters for smaller projects to some extent.
"The intent of this new funding is that it would be looking at projects at a larger scale, so likely to be projects which are of a higher value and include collaborative projects."
Further criteria will be developed to help potential applicants understand whether their projects are likely to be supported
A two-stage process for fund allocation is being proposed.
First, interested organisations would submit a registration of interest so their eligibility can be assessed.
This would be followed by a more detailed proposal submitted through a request-for-proposal process.
Further detail on this process will also be presented to the regional council for approval in due course, she said.
Councillor and environmental delivery committee co-chairwoman Kate Wilson welcomed the decision, saying the community had shown that a large-scale catchment-wide approach was the most effective delivery model.
Co-chairman and councillor Lloyd McCall said the regional council’s ability to support and enable community-led environmental action at scale was an excellent opportunity.
"There is already significant investment that the community are contributing to environmental outcomes and to be able to support more of this to happen on the ground is vital to enhance what we have for future generations," he said.
